[A12n-forum] Re: "Calling African Scholars" (participation in discussions on IDN)

["David Joffe" <david.joffe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This seems a bit vague and mixed up to me, muddling several
different points, and it's not entirely clear to me what the exact
issue/problem being referred to here is around Internationalized
Domain Names - the IDN system already supports Unicode and thus
basically allows for any domain name you want to be registered:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_name

If the problem is that some African languages contain characters
that are not yet represented in Unicode, then this issue has
absolutely nothing to do with domain names at all, and in fact
simply getting those characters into Unicode would be the far more
urgent issue. Once in, the domain name "problem" would essentially
automatically resolve itself.

If the problem is that there aren't keyboards available to allow
users to easily enter characters in their languages, then this again
has absolutely nothing to do with domain names at all, and preparing
such keyboards (virtual or otherwise) would be the issue to solve
(e.g. as translate.org.za have done for Tshivenda and others).

If the problem is that some languages don't have formalised
orthographies yet, then again, this has absolutely nothing to do
with domain names.

If the problem being referred to is that there are too few African
language domain names being registered, that's just because no
Africans are registering them. Nobody is "leaving Africa behind"; on
the contrary, here we have technologies that have been fully
developed "for us" that are there to literally just take and be used
- Africa is being helped forward.

The only possible 'domain name issue' I can think of here that they
might be referring to is African registrars not yet supporting IDNA
for country-specific top-level country codes (e.g. could I register
a ".za" at http://co.za/ with Tshivenda characters in it and if not
why not (*)), cf.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_name#DNS_regis
tries_known_to_have_adopted_IDNA

If that's the problem, why don't they just say that. No "agenda"
needs to be "moved forward", no "discussions" need to be made at
"follow-up meetings", no additional trips to Sao Paulo are required
(because all the required software is available on the Internet),
and there is no "Internationalized Domain Name debate". IDNs also
won't "solve communication problems"; they only apply to the
name/address of the website that appears in the address bar of your
browser (e.g. tshwanedje.com), and nowhere else. In fact for .com,
.net, .org etc., as I understand it, it is already possible to
register any African language domain name that can be written with
Unicode. If the country-specific registrars are for some reason not
implementing IDNA, I wonder if the demand is simply very low. When
someone presents a technical-sounding issue in a cloudy/muddled way
as a premise for seeking, quote, "a lot of financial commitment" to
solve the "problem", I must admit I get a bit suspicious.


> "In 2004, Adama Samassekou, head of the African Academy of Languages
> was quoted saying that there was lethargy within African leadership to
> use local languages even at African Unity meetings."

Well, if the problem is lethargy, I'm not sure any amount of
technology will solve that.

 - David

(*) According to http://co.za/intro/choose.shtml, no, I could not.
This is, as I understand it, only because the http://co.za/ admins
haven't implemented IDNA.



On 31 Dec 2006 at 13:46, Don Osborn wrote:

From:                   "Don Osborn" <dzo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To:                     <A12n-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,
        <A12n-collaboration@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date sent:              Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:46:16 -0500
Copies to:              Subject:                [A12n-forum] "Calling African
Scholars" (participation in discussions
        on IDN)

> The following item from the Highway Africa News Agency (South Africa) was
> seen on AllAfrica.com at http://allafrica.com/stories/200612080675.html . I
> believe that the IDN project mentioned is the same as the one launched in
> Dakar in Sept. 2005 (in which Prof. Somé and ACALAN president Samassekou
> participated)...   DZO
>
>
> Africa: Calling African Scholars
> Highway Africa News Agency (Grahamstown)
> http://hana.ru.ac.za/
> December 8, 2006
> Posted to the web December 8, 2006
>
> Rebecca Wanjiku
> Geneva
>
> African scholars interested in developing and preserving indigenous
> languages have been challenged to take the lead in the Internationalised
> Domain Name (IDN) debate. Prof. Maxime Z. Somé, from the University of
> Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso called on African linguists to actively
> participate in the IDN project.
>
> 'Scientists and scholars should constitute themselves as an exceptional
> authority in African affairs and move the project forward, said Somé.
>
> Somé is concerned that Cambodia, Japan, China, Korea and Arabic countries
> seem to be moving at a faster pace and leaving Africa behind.
>
> In his opinion, linguistic experts as well as scientists in Africa should
> work together and move the agenda forward. He added that the IDN project
> requires linguists to agree on the language and terminologies of a
> particular language and the scientists to work on the technological aspects.
>
> After the agreement of the scripts and language tables, the UNICODE
> consortium, which consists of computer makers and other bodies, will be
> expected to integrate the languages into most computers sold to the Africa
> region.
>
> In this regard, if I have a computer, I can choose the language to use, just
> like I select to use French or German. In the case of French, the computer
> inserts the right accents and other letters that may not be available on the
> English key board.
>
> Asked whether this will lead to development of many key boards, Some? says
> experts can work on some regional languages like Bambara, used in Guinea,
> Mali, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso or Fulani, used in Nigeria, Senegal,
> Mauritania and Mali.
>
> 'We know that this project requires a lot of financial commitment and big
> businesses are not going to invest if not assured of profits. That leaves
> governments, which have been very non committal, ' he adds.
>
> But he maintains that scholars can jumpstart the process by learning from
> other countries where experts volunteered their services for the sake of
> development.
>
> Some spoke at the ongoing Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
> Numbers (ICANN) meeting in Sao Paulo, where the urgency of IDNs has taken
> centre stage and its proponents are touting it as a solution to
> communication problems. While there are workshops and follow-up meetings to
> discuss and update on issues relating to IDNs, Africa is stuck with the
> obsession of listing its numerous cultural and logistical problems as the
> hindrance to IDN progress.
>
> In 2004, Adama Samassekou, head of the African Academy of Languages was
> quoted saying that there was lethargy within African leadership to use local
> languages even at African Unity meetings.
>
> Swahili was recommended in 1986 but was used at the AU meeting in July 2004
> and is spoken in 15 East and Central African countries.
>
> Copyright © 2006 Highway Africa News Agency
> +27 46 636 1590
> highwayafrica@xxxxxxx
>
>
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